Thursday, October 3, 2013

BOOK REVIEW: Coi: the stories and recipes by Daniel Patterson

NOTE: We will be hosting Daniel Patterson Tuesday October 15th with Chef Alex Atala of D.O.M. in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Tickets available from The Cookbook Store. www.cook-book.comThis is an off site event at George Ignatieff Theatre, 15 Devonshire Place.

In an age when it seems every restaurant and chef is
producing a cookbook a couple of years after opening, it’s refreshing for a
chef to take some time before providing us with a written account of his time
as a chef and his life at the restaurant. It doesn’t hurt either that he’s an
accomplished and published writer. Daniel Patterson opened Coi (rhymes with
“foie”, which ironically is banned in California; the state where Coi is
situated) in 2007 at a time where really high end fine dining was sparse on that
side of the country. Manresa and The French Laundry were doing their thing and
we can’t mention Californian restaurants without Alice Waters’ little place in
Berkeley, but San Francisco itself was relatively quiet when it came to
cuisine. Patterson is widely credited as catalyzing the movement towards what
we understand today as “California cuisine”. Today San Francisco is regarded as
one of the best food cities in the world; boasting names such as Benu, Saison,
Quince and the young brilliance that is State Bird Provisions.

The Coi cookbook is publisher Phaidon's first to feature a North American restaurant. Notorious
for producing cookbooks that are perhaps a little light on functionality, yet
possessing maxed-out aesthetic, Phaidon stays the course in their latest
addition to the coffee table market of chef cookbooks. The gorgeous photography
that has come to be expected of restaurant cookbooks is present in full force
within the stark white covers of the Coi cookbook. Photos resonate with
stylistic nuances of the Noma cookbook; images of nature and abstract shots are
as plentiful as those of the actual food.

Patterson
defines his food as the result of his constant pursuit of delicious flavour. Lately
it seems to be a trend to try to center a dish on the use of a new or
interesting technique as opposed to building a dish around a flavour profile.
By focusing on the deliciousness of his food, Patterson produces clean flavours
that beautifully showcase the quality of the product he has access to in
California. Yes, the “famous” Popcorn Grits recipe is included, preceded by an
anecdote detailing its creation (each recipe comes with a personal explanation
about its concept and history by Patterson).

A gripe
I do have with this book is that the publishers have chosen to mirror the
recipe format of the Noma cookbook and separate the book into two halves,
photos and anecdotes in the front and recipes in the back. While this is
admittedly a book few will cook from, the functionality of the book takes a big
hit when the user needs to use two bookmarks and many page turns in order to
attempt a recipe. While there is a fair amount of special (read: expensive)
equipment needed to complete components to each recipe, there are many
sub-recipes one can extract to use in other ways. While we aren’t likely to
replicate a perfectly formed beet rose (a task that requires the focus of a
legion of cooks at Coi and numerous hours), the recipe for Carrots Roasted in
Coffee makes for a stellar side at a dinner party (especially since the carrots
can all be done in batches and held in the warm grounds).

As the
critic, I suppose it is my responsibility to provide a clear and concise review
that answers the question of whether or not you should buy this book. The big
question I’m sure many of you want to ask me is whether you should purchase
Coi, or the other big California release this year, Manresa. Truthfully, it is
difficult to make an argument against the Manresa cookbook; the restaurant’s
been open for decades and has a treasure trove of winning recipes to share with
the world. I will say, however, that while Manresa boasts solid technique and
clean flavours, Patterson’s cuisine boasts a creative edge that yearns to push
the heights of deliciousness.

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about the cookbook store

The Cookbook Store opened at the corner of Yonge and Yorkville Ave and had a memorable 31 year run until March 5th, 2014 when the bricks and mortar store closed to make way for a condominium development. We will continue organizing author and chef events from time to time.